


Contextual Disposition

by zehel_red



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/M, M/M, Multi, Normal Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-11 21:02:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3332777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zehel_red/pseuds/zehel_red
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Percy Jackson. And this is a story about me, being me, but not exactly told by me. No. I'm not dead and this isn't a eulogy or a biography. It's just told in a different perspective once in a while. Kinda like a joint account.</p>
<p>This isn't a typical university love story, either. A story where boy meets girl that leads love at first sight then to romantic dates to happy engagements and then to a happy life, no. This is actually a story about three friends setting out to a path filled with discovery, romance, friendship, laughs and a whole lot of schist. So sit back and enjoy the ride as Nico, Jason and I fill you in on a not-so fun filled life as normal teenagers unintentionally working their way to become rock stars.</p>
<p>There will be blood, sweat, tears... and a whole lot of schist coming your way, So unless you come in full battle gear, consider yourself warned. </p>
<p>Warning. This story contains BDSM. Bands, Dancers, Schists and a whole lot of Mishaps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Accidentally Creamed My Latin Professor

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, This is zehel_red at your service!  
> This is my first time posting a story here in AO3 as well as my first for the fandom. 
> 
> I apologize if the characters have been slightly out of character. The characters of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus are by in no way owned by me. They're created and rightfully owned by Rick Riordan.  
> Only the story is owned by me. No profit is being made and no demigods have been harmed by the making of this fic.  
> I hope you guys like reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :D
> 
> Comments and suggestions are highly appreciated.

P E R C Y

 

= ONE =

 

* * *

 

 

Look, I didn't want to be a famous A-list guitar hero.

            Or a renowned skater boy by my friends and the not-so-much-friends. Or basically a class idiot-slash-problem student who has a case of dyslexia or ADHD. I didn't want any of it, but it chose me.

            If you're not one, but you think you might be one, I'll impart to you a piece of  advice: I suggest you close this book now before they sense you and come after you. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your potential and the most awesome life goals you could have and try to lead a normal civilian life.

            Being in the spotlight, while it does have its perks once in awhile, is dangerous. It's scary sometimes. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty and very sudden ways. We all know how Princess Di died, right?

            But if you think that this is just some cheesy love story or a story made up for entertainment. Go on reading, but I assure you that this won't be anything like bedtime stories or rom-com films you see in movies.

            No.

            This isn't a typical university love story, either. A story where boy meets girl that leads to love at first sight then to romantic dates to happy engagements and then to a happy life, no. This is actually a story about a skater boy. A simple nineteen year-old boy who only wants to live his life with his mother and stepfather in a small city apartment in the heart of the busiest place in the world, New York City, New York. This is a story about... yeah, you guessed it. Me.

            My name is Percy Jackson. And this is a story about me being me, but not exactly told by me. No. I'm not dead and this isn't a eulogy or a biography. It's just told in a different perspective once in a while. Kinda like a joint account. You get the idea, right?

            As I have said, I'm nineteen years old and until a few months ago, I've been a senior student in Goode High School - the only school that I managed to stay into for more than a year, luckily for at least the entirety of my junior to senior years.

            Would you say I'm a troubled kid?

            Yeah. You could say that.

            As much as I would like to say that I have superpowers like those Marvel or DC heroes that I always read in my free time (Hey, it's also literature, okay? No judging.), I don't. I'm as much of a normal kid as I could be. But if you could consider me having a knack for being a very frequent target of bad luck and accidents as a superpower, then yeah, maybe I probably am.

            I could start by telling you how I accidentally put my classmates to an unintentional swimming class with the surprisingly tame sharks in the local aquarium when I was in middle school, or how I accidentally set off a chain reaction of Broadway-grade civil war cannon explosions during a trip in my first year of senior high. Or from how I "accidentally" started a gang war during my second year and eventually gotten kicked out because of it, to something so simple as setting off the quickest lab explosion and causing a food fight in the cafeteria. The list is endless and quite long, but the story isn't focusing on this so I'll just move on.

            I know - it might sound like I've always gotten the short end of the stick in every unfortunate series of events that happened to me. It was torture I tell you, trying to not think if any school in the area would still accept me while being branded as a problem kid. The accidents have been endless, but not any one of it has been exactly meaningless.

            My dad -my original dad- said that I was like the sea - a little rebellious, independent and unrestrained. While my family and friends like that side of me, the school authorities and teachers don't exactly fall in the same page as they do. They hate it and they see it as a way for me to make my school life a living hell. I'm not even including bullies in this category because they fall in a whole new level of pain-in-the- _assery._

            It is these same qualities of mine that make my friends and I a bit of hot spot for bullying and some other sick form of brotherhood. You see, the freak accidents that happened in every year have been a product of it. Not just towards me, but for the friends I have made during my year of stay. Behind all the stories of me totally wrecking up a field trip or probably the school gymnasium because of my misfits and short temperament have all been actually of me and my friends standing up for our own. Most of the time, the subject of bullying would be my best friend Jason Grace or my childhood friend Nico di Angelo.

            This year, I'm set in trying to survive my first day of university as a freshman taking up Marine Biology. Don't ask me why I took this program up, I just picked it because it has the word "marine" over it and it kind of sounded cool when I saw it in the orientation brochure, too. Not to mention I've always liked being in the water. Again, don't ask why. I just do.

            But, as per usual, the moment I step out of the safety of our humble New York apartment, the Fates seemed to start playing their daily routine on me. Not only have I been chased by the neighbors' dogs all the way to the subway, but I also had to do the job of chasing a cat from running away with my hard-earned Starbucks sandwich. To top things off, my headphones gave up on me after being jostled by an inconsiderate jerk on the way inside the subway couch.

            I plopped in a seat between an old evidently obese woman who's making newspaper reading look very much intimidating than relaxing and a rugged looking guy who strongly reeks of alcohol and some other chemical I don't want to know. Said guy also suddenly found me interesting enough to use as a pillow, not to mention leave some gods awful smelling drool on my best jacket. "So much for a good day," I cursed under my breath as I let the train lead me to the road to Westover University.

            So first day, right? With all the things that happened to me during the ride to school, you'd probably think _'Hey, that's already enough bad luck to happen to one person for a day, right?'_ Wrong.

            The station before I dropped off into Central Station, the train experienced a power outage. It didn't take very long to get fixed, but I lost an ample amount of time enough for me to actually be able to find my way to the gymnasium where the freshman orientation will be held. Because of it, I had to find a way to drastically cut travel time. It's not really the smartest freshman student vying for a good student evaluation could think of,but, _hey_ , desperate times call for desperate measures.

            So I did what any ADHD and highly improvising student like me could do.

            I unstrapped my skateboard which I named _"Anaklusmos"_   -Riptide _-_ from my backpack and rolled my way to the university. It's a rule not to use skateboards or any _"other worldly"_ contraptions the school administration could think of, but I had no choice, it's either I die rolling, or I suffer the role of being a problem student, for the nth time of my life. Besides, it's only until the campus borders. The rest will have to go on foot.

            Usually, I wouldn't really care about setting up a good student repertoire. But this would be a good time for a fresh start. A new chapter in my life, new environment with a little more freedom and a new chance for me to hang out with Jason and Nico again... and probably, _maybe_. Get myself a girlfriend. But unlike my imagination taking up its leisurely time in thinking up of a brighter and safer future for myself, I have other problems to think of.

_I'm running out of time._

            I kicked the concrete pavement, hoping for more speed. Lady luck didn't fail me. Soon enough, I was skating my way to the campus. I was already starting to think that maybe I could have a shot in building up the good guy persona and end up being early for the orientation for a change, but I spoke too soon.

            As lame as any person could be, I fell face first to the university's neatly mowed lawn when I hit an ungodly pothole lying right in the middle of the sidewalk.

            Thinking I was the only one who suffered the embarrassing casualty, I sat up to dust myself off the grass shavings and decided to just keep going like nothing embarrassing to look back into happened thinking that I could just someday look back at it and say, _"So I tripped on a pothole. Big deal!"_.  _Again_. I spoke too soon.

            The moment I looked up, I was greeted by the sight of a middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair busying himself in trying to wipe a more than generous amount of whipped cream from his face while holding a cup of iced coffee probably once topped with the sugary stuff on him, but... I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the strange blue topping slowly beginning to sink in the cup. _Oh shit_. Is that my iPod in his drink?

            I hurriedly picked up my skateboard and jogged to the man's direction, picking up the scattered papers and books from the ground. "Oh gods! I-I'm really sorry about that.", I apologized frantically while I set the books back on his lap.

            Judging on the thinning hair, scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket that highly reeked of caffeine, the guy must be a professor in the university. Total bad news. "I'm very sorry, sir. I didn't see the pothole and-"

            "It's alright, boy." The man grunted while trying to wipe off the remaining whipped cream from his eyes. The poor guy was completely covered by the sticky stuff, maybe I should tell him he still has some on his beard and threatening to fall off his jacket, but that would just put me in a worse situation.

            Before I could apologize further, the man gave me back my cream-frosted iPod with an impatient wave of his hand. "Take this contraption with you. You'll be late for class."

            "Y-yes, sir." Taking it as a way out of the mess, I took it without hesitation after saying my thanks and a brief apology. Picking up my board, I ran off to the direction I think was leading to the gymnasium, or just anywhere to get out of the guy's range. I hope the guy wouldn't be my professor. Or else I'll totally say goodbye to my dreams of being an average student.

            By the time I reached the bleachers, I found my friends Jason and Nico waving at me from the other side of the court - Jason was doing the waving, Nico, well, he just doesn't do that to anyone, so he simply rolled his eyes.

            "Wow, only five minutes late. An all-time high, Jackson." Nico said dryly and without humor, his lips quirking up in an amused smirk as he looked at his black sports watch.

            "It could have been worse. He could have been kicked out the moment he stepped foot here." Jason teased with a slight nudge to Nico's side, the small white scar on his upper lift rippling as he smiled.

            Despite the fact that I could have been pissed off if anyone else said that to me, I found myself laughing and punching Jason lightly on the shoulder.  I gave them a quick once over. They hadn't really changed since the last time I saw them.  Jason I saw about a year ago since he was attending a boarding school in San Francisco and Nico probably during my birthday -which is the last day of summer - just a few weeks ago.

            Jason still has his blonde hair the color of corn silk close-cropped to a regulation cut he has to sport during his stay in the boarding school, striking electric blue eyes and the small but distinct lip scar he acquired when he was still a kid (by what his sister, Thalia, said ) by trying to eat a stapler. The only difference is that he grew a bit more on the tanned side and the change of our height difference. He's always been the taller one -about three to four inches taller than me-, but I managed to catch up in my growing years for the past year and managed to add an inch or two to my height, so we're probably an inch apart now.

            Nico, on the other hand, was the real deal in major differences. As far as my toddler years could remember, Nico had always had rich olive skin inherited from his late mother and share the same dark eyes as his dad. Around sixteen, he lost the round cheeks like all children did have and got replaced by a more graceful and defined bone structure fitting his lean frame. The same time he lost the roundness to him, the color faded to a pale one like his dad's and he chose to let his dark shaggy hair grow until it was brushing against his shoulder, long enough for him to be able to tie it up to a short stub. The dark bruises underneath his eyes haven't really gone ever since he had a serious case of insomnia and his short stature could probably be a result from their bloodline's height. Other than that, he's still the same solitary, timid Nico I grew up with.

            "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, man. Scoot over." I answered, patting Jason's leg to push him away and squeezing myself between him and Nico, earning myself a jostle and a knock on the knee from them at that.

            "You just had to squeeze your way between us?" Nico mumbled as he was forced to move over. I just laughed. I really missed these guys.

            Just as I was about to say something clever about me liking to be in the middle of things, I noticed Jason darting looks around the gymnasium as if he was looking for something. "Something wrong, man?" I asked.

            "Not really. I'm just looking for Piper. See if she's around here somewhere."

            "The girl that sounds like she has cleaning materials for a surname?" I clarified, eventually having myself hit on the arm because of it.

            Jason rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, genius. Piper McLean. My girlfriend." he corrected, not even taking the time to look at me as he did so.

            From what I remember during the times we talked to each other in one of those up-and-coming chat servers called _'Iris Messaging'_ , Piper is the daughter of one of Hollywood's most sought-out leading men named Tristan McLean and one of the most beautiful actress since Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe named Venus McLean. Although being from a high profile family, Piper was enrolled in the Wilderness School for Troubled Children because of her not-so behaved demeanor. I'm not saying that she's along the lines of being a renowned flirt or whatever shady profession you could think of, it just meant that she gets herself into trouble once in a while for "borrowing" some things once in a while without being able to return them.

            Anyway, from what Jason told me, the three of them, him and Piper along with a scrawny Latino kid named Leo Valdez met last year in the school bus during a field trip to the Grand Canyon. Managed to fight off a would be hostage-taking together, saved each other's lives with a club, a shoe and a mountain goat and the rest was cloud nine from there (for Jason and Piper. Not the three of them, I mean.).

            By the time he found her, Jason raised a hand to wave at her general direction.

            So Piper wasn't how I imagined Jason's girlfriend to be - an intelligent looking brunette with fair skin and all the works like Lois Lane or equally blonde hair and intelligent eyes like Gwen Stacy. From the way he told me on how she was like, I was imagining that she was what you would call as a typical daughter of an A-list actor and actress. Well dressed, primped hair, glowing skin and a really head-turning feminine aura about her. But Piper McLean, while she does have that head-turning aura with her, was the exact opposite of what I had imagined.

            She was wearing loose and layered clothing - still feminine, but a bit close to the tomboyish side-, her hair was chopped up unevenly like a pair of scissors malfunctioned during the process and on her brown hair stuck a few feathers here and there at the end of her occasional braid and her skin has the color of blended mocha. Kind of like a modern rendition of Disney's Pocahontas or a beautiful but subtly dangerous Amazon queen. But the most striking part of her was not the sort of Cherokee look she has going on. It was her Kaleidoscope colored eyes. Looking at it made me want to take a closer look at those eyes. I couldn't decide if I was looking at blue, green, brown or gold.

            "You must be Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo." She said with a distinct tone in her voice - one that has a soothing ring to it - bringing me out of my unintentional gaping moment. Now I know why Jason is so drawn to her.  She may not be physically striking, but her voice and eyes speak volumes about her -no pun intended.

            Before Nico or I could answer with what would probably be like an embarrassing squeak, a scrawny Latino kid with brown skin the color of creamed coffee, unruly mop of curly dark hair springing out one direction to another, dark eyes with a mischievous glint in it, slightly pointy ears and an impish grin sneaked up from behind Piper and waved.

            " _Hola_ , _amigos_! Guess what? Uncle Leo's here!" he smiled while doing a peace sign with his hand.

            Jason beamed back at him and got up to do a quick secret handshake composed of gods know how many hand gestures was that (I counted thirteen). While I might have a lingering case of ADHD with me, I'm sure Leo was even more ADHD than I am. Throughout the time we had said our introductions -which was around three minutes or so- Leo's hands were flying through the Rubik's cube he had probably solved a hundred times.

            So it went like that. We settled in the bleachers and let the orientation pass by uneventfully. The whole gymnasium was rowdy with crowd noise anyway, so we just used the time to catch up with one another.

            By the time the orientation ended and we had our tour of the place, we bounded to our general classes. Specialization classes won't be taken up until our third year.

            Now, about the place. Westover University may be a run-off-the-mill university compared to Harvard or Yale or any other university you could think of, but the place has a fair amount of  courses and programs it has to offer. It was formerly a military school, but the administration must have thought it was finally time for them to _"Think Big"_ like what the school motto says in the brochure. So years, successful graduates and individuals after, Westover began to pick up its pace, built fairly new buildings here and there, offered more courses for students and before you know it, the only reminder of what it was before was a lone tower  of what seemed like it belonged to a castle looming over the buildings at the far end of the campus.

 

 

            "So I forgot to ask, why were you late awhile back, Percy?" Jason asked as he opened the door leading to the classroom. "And your iPod looks like it fell in shaving cream."

            "Whipped cream." I groaned as I tried not to remember how I literally creamed someone awhile back. Now that I think about it, I don't even know who the guy was. I'm hoping he's not the type to hold grudges. "I was skating all the way here just to get here on time, when..." I paused thinking if it would be better to make something up like losing grip of my skateboard or telling the lame truth of hitting a pothole.

            "When what?" Nico asked, clearly wanting to know what happens next.

            I groaned as I did what was customary for me. I said the truth, no matter how stupid it sounded. "I accidentally tripped over a pothole. Then my iPod went flying in a drink of some guy in a wheelchair."

            As usual, being the good friends they are, they all ended up laughing much too hard for my liking. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh at me all you want. It was embarrassing! And I creamed the dude, too!"

            "Yeah, literally!" Leo laughed as he clapped my shoulder. "Classic, man. Classic. Oh, I love this guy. He's a riot." He nudged Jason on the side.

            "You'll be surprised on how hilarious he could be." Jason agreed with a nod.

            I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Right now, I'm having a love-hate relationship with this Leo. But he's not that bad, I guess. So I just laughed and playfully brushed his hand off. "Whatever, man. Doesn't beat the fact that you're basically resting your hand on a drunken man's drool."

            "What?! Gross!" he exclaimed with wide and horrified eyes, wiping his hand on a vacant table as we passed by. I gave him a smug smile, feeling satisfied by the sweet taste of revenge at the sight of Leo frantically wiping his hand at any available surface he could find - one of it being a girl with outrageously loud make-up.

            As to why we still have Latin classes in our curriculum, I wouldn't know.  My friends and I settled down to class, picked the not-so famous places in the classroom to sit in and just basically waited for the professor to arrive. We ended up laughing about my series of unfortunate events this morning until we heard the professor call out from the door.

            "Alright, class. Settle down, please." He said with a deep tenor in his voice.

            The class settled in and all that could be heard was a soft whirring sound of some slow moving motorized vehicle. I wouldn't have known what was causing it if I hadn't been nudged by Nico on the shoulder and whispered, "Percy, please don't tell me that's the guy you creamed a while back."

            "Huh?"

            Curious, I looked up. Immediately I could see my dreams of a good future as a student here shatter into tiny pieces and disappear into oblivion. I noticed the professor was looking at my direction and I had to settle to shrinking back into my seat and instinctively hiding my face from him. Not the sneakiest way into saying _'don't look at me'_ , but I can't help it when I'm feeling that I'm being stared down and scrutinized to the very last cell in my body.

            With the silence of the classroom and the unrelenting feeling that I was recognized, even the smallest action such as the clearing of the professor's throat made me jump.

            "Good morning, students." A sound of a motor whirring into action and the distinct strokes of chalk writing on board later. "Welcome to Westover University. I'm Dr. Chiron Brunner and I'll be your Latin professor starting today." he said with a small smile playing on his lips as he clasped his hands together, reminding me strongly of how Professor Xavier would always do that when he's in the mood for a lecture or a lengthy discussion about philosophies and whatnot.

            I heard myself groan inwardly as I tried sink as much as possible in my seat. _Oh great._ This will be a very wonderful year. I've just creamed my Latin professor.


	2. I Become The Reigning King of Schist and Water Bombs

P E R C Y

= TWO =

* * *

 

             I was used to the occasional heat coming from teachers because of something I did like sleeping in class or being late once or twice, but for having done something such as creaming him and using the skateboard within campus premises I was surprised to actually think that Dr. Brunner called me in after class not to tell me to report to the prefect about my misconduct, but to actually tell me to be a little more careful where I step.

            "Sure, Dr. Brunner." I muttered in apology, scratching the side of my neck and thinking if I should probably say something more as apology since _'Sure, Dr. Brunner.'_ didn't exactly seem to cut it. "I'm really sorry about a while back. I'll try not to trip on any more potholes in the future."

            "Nor have any more gadgets flying around, hm?" By then, I could see a hint of a smile grace his lips and I fought the urge not to laugh.

            "Sure thing, Sir." I nodded in agreement, feeling weight lift off my shoulders as I went out the classroom and met up with the others.

            The whole day went on a little uneventfully. Classes were either just orientations or the professors didn't show up for the first day so it was held a little short. It was something I was finding more than welcome since there weren't many students who turned in for the first day, either.

            University could be a little overwhelming than senior high, though with all the sudden rush of freedom flooding in and I think the professors are also reveling on that sense of freedom than the kind of systematic and robotic way the high school teachers teach us with their boring lectures told in a monotone speech. (Sorry, Paul, but you're cool.)

            Most classes I attended for the day were a little so-so. Didn't like it and didn't hate it, either. But some of them I was kind of looking forward to attending, one of them being Dr. Brunner's class.

            There's this one class I have, I think it was some kind of science class held by a rad looking dude with short gray hair and a clipped beard named Daedalus Quinn. He looks like he's someone I saw in Hollywood but I'm not exactly sure who (probably someone like George Clooney or someone with a cleft chin.). He must be some kind of a descendant of Einstein, too, since the guy is a freaking genius judging from all the complicated looking laboratory equipment he has going on at once. I swear I could see some of those mechanical arms mixing dangerous looking chemicals and shaking them like a freaking barista in a pub.

            Then, of course, the best class ever, gym class. Unlike what the registry told me about swimming not being the first choice of most students as a gym elective, I still took it since I consider water as kind of like my home turf. It's not because I can secretly grow gills like a fish or hold my breath for a ridiculously long time (is three minutes long enough?), but only because I feel calmer underwater than on ground. I'm pretty sure I'll be okay with it, too, since I have one heck of a spirited gym teacher named Gleeson Hedge. The guy has an amazing pair of lungs and could possibly be the only person to look very intimidating holding a baseball bat while sitting a little above the four feet zone. I just hope he won't do some sick kung fu action on me if I do something stupid in class.

            Let's not forget Dr. Brunner's Latin class. Despite my dyslexia having discouraged me in liking any school subject related to reading and more reading, I'm finding myself looking forward to attending this class more than how I dreaded attending the same classes years before. By how Dr. Brunner handled the situation awhile back, he's beginning to climb up in my list of the most awesome teachers I've known, a list that so far only two people are occupying right now, one being my stepfather Paul Blofis (don't let him catch you calling him blowfish, though. He doesn't like it.) The other teachers I had before? In my mind they're all fighting over the top one spot in my _'Worst Ever Teacher'_ list.

 

 

            By the end of the day, the group broke up into two with Jason, Piper and Leo in one group and with Nico and I in the other.

            Jason was supposed to come crash in our apartment for today, but Leo and Piper wanted to be toured around the city since they both came from somewhere in the West coast, and I could see that Jason wanted to spend some time with Piper. So in the end it's just me and Nico. The original duo.

            "Are you sure Mrs. Jackson wouldn't mind if I stay over for dinner?" Nico asked as he helped himself on his sea-salt ice cream as we walked along the familiar path leading to my apartment somewhere uptown.

            "Do you need to ask? Come on, Neeks. You're practically family already, I'm pretty sure Mom would like to see you again, too." I said as I rolled the popsicle inside my mouth. "And I'm pretty sure she'd put on a face if she hears you call her Mrs. Jackson again."

            If I wasn't so used to seeing Nico di Angelo flustered, I would have found his blushing face kind of cute. I was about to say something about it, but I knew better not to since he would probably grumble and tell me something along the lines of-

            "Perseus, you better not be planning on saying something about me being cute, or I swear to Hades I'll kick you where it hurts." he grumbled as he pointed the half-eaten popsicle at me before popping it back in his mouth.

            Yep. Somewhere along those lines. "I wasn't."

            "Uh-huh." he said, not sounding convinced at all. "You had that look."

            "I don't have "that" look. What look?"

            "You had that look!"

            I soon found myself trying hard not to smile at how Nico was giving so much attention to what kind of expression I have going on. "Nico, for the last time! What 'look'?"

            "The moony-eyed, idiotic look you always have when you're thinking of something stupid. Like this one." Nico tried his best to imitate an expression close to just being cross-eyed that I know I didn't make at all.

            I burst out into laughter at seeing it. I know that he wouldn't usually be that light-hearted around others easily and laughing at it would make his mood turn sour, but this was something that was too hilarious not to laugh at and I'm sure as hell that I didn't do a face like that or even close to it at all. "Okay, now that's cute. It fits you well, Neeks." I teased.

            The next thing I know I felt a popsicle stick be thrown at me followed by a kick on the leg. "You tool! Don’t call me Neeks!" Nico exclaimed in frustration and annoyance, his voice turning a few notes higher and his face looking a lot more like a ripe tomato than ever. Then I was hit on the shoulder. It didn't really hurt and it made me laugh harder when Nico tried to hit me again. I had to duck.

   

       

           "I'm home!"

           "Percy?" My mom called out from the kitchen when she heard the door close.

           "Yeah, mom!" I called back out while I took off my jacket and tossed the keys somewhere over the side table. "I brought someone over I figured you'd like to see."

            "Really? Who?" she asked, her voice having that high melodic sound to it whenever she would get excited over something. She came over to the apartment's small lobby where Nico and I are currently standing. The moment she saw us I saw her smile widely and her eyes begin to sparkle and seemingly change color when the light got caught in her eyes. "Nico!"

            "Hi, Mrs.-" Nico caught himself just in time when my mom pulled him in for a tight hug. "Hi, Aunt Sally." He groaned brokenly at the tight hug before awkwardly patting her on the back.

            Now that you met her, here's a word about my mom.

            Her name is Sally Jackson. She's simply the most awesome mom in the world, which proves my theory that the most awesome people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. By high school, she started working so she could save up for college and continue with her dreams of becoming a novelist. Before she could start with college, her uncle got a serious case of cancer and my mom had to stop during her senior year to take care of him. By the time her uncle died, she was left with no money, no family and no diploma. She only had two good breaks in her life. One was with my dad.

            I didn't get to see my dad when I was a kid, but I could still remember a vague memory of gentle but rough and calloused hands and the barest hint of a warm smile. My mom usually doesn't talk about her times with dad since it would only make her sad for the entire day. She doesn't have pictures or videos of him, either. But from what mom said, she had only been with him for one year, a winter in a beach in Montauk and that was then that I was conceived. See, my parents weren't exactly married. She told me he was some kind of rich business tycoon and their relationship was a secret. Whenever I asked her if she wanted to be married to him, the only words she'll say would be _'You're all that I need.'_.

            She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma and raised me on her own. Finally, when I was around 5, she married the _baddest_ of all the bad stepfathers in the world, Gabe Ugliano (emphasis on the ugly), he was nice for the first thirty seconds I knew him, then in record time showed his true self as a world-class jerk. When I was a kid, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe, because it was the truth. He reeks of mouldy garlic bread, stale pizza and a stagnant sewage tank at the same time. Between the both of us, I know we made my mom's life pretty hard. He'd always find ways to make my life a whole lot harder than it already is after being diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD and it was because of this that I would go and crash in Jason's or Nico's house nearby just to get away from him. He was that repulsive for me, but I was more or less willing to put up with it for the sake of my mom.

            I put up with him, both with the contents of my stomach and the contents of my wallet – the guy was a serious gambler-, until I reached sixth grade. That was the time I finally came face-to-face with my dad. He was cool in a laid-back kind of way, not the way I was thinking about being a rich business tycoon like Jason's dad. With how he usually dresses up with his Birkenstocks, khaki bermuda shorts, hawaiian shirts with a coconut and parrot print and a cap decorated with fishing lures with a print that says, _"Poseidon's lucky fishing hat"_ you would mostly think he's a fisherman rather than someone who controls most of the country's ports and marine trade. Like mine, he also has black hair, a neatly trimmed beard, sea-green eyes and a nice tan. By how the fine lines at the corner of his eyes would wrinkle up when he gives that warm fatherly smile, it would make me think on how much my mom's fate could change if he would have married her instead of going away. But of course, I'm sure they would have if they could.

            When I told my dad that I found out that Smelly Gabe was hurting my mom in more than one occasion, he quickly got him sent to prison for it. (Of course, I had to have a talk with my mom about it.) Since then, my dad comes by to visit us once in a while to check up on us, most of the time it would be my mom's or my birthday, but it was only until visitations, nothing more. Even though it was like that, my mom and dad remained in friendly terms.

            Around eighth grade, it was when mom got her second break. She met my current stepfather, Paul Blofis. He met her in a writing seminar in a college she was going to, so given the situation they had to sometimes work together for papers and whatnot. Eventually, their study nights turned out to become date nights. At first I didn't really like the idea of my mom dating someone who might in the end hurt her again and I was still hoping my parents would end up together, but after seeing her arrive home one night smiling happily and looking a lot younger than her years, I figured that Paul might not be so bad. Around my fifteenth birthday, Paul asked me man-to-man if it was alright to marry my mom. I said yes because meeting Paul made my mom happier than I saw her be.

            In case someone is asking. _No_ , I didn't have my surname changed to Blofis. Not that I have anything against Paul, but I've had enough being made fun of and I don't exactly need to have my name be the butt of jokes anytime soon. Luckily, Paul didn't seem to mind that I still used my mom's maiden name.

 

 

            Dinner went along well, if not a few hours longer since mom was having such a good time catching up with Nico. I felt a little sorry for him, though since I could tell that he was actually raring to go back to the bedroom and crawl away from the questions my mom had to ask like "if he has a girlfriend", or "if he's seeing someone right now". By the time we arrive back to my bedroom, Nico plopped down unceremoniously on my bed and gave out a low groan.

            "Perseus, I swear," Nico grumbled under his breath, turning around to rest on his back and stare at the ceiling wearily. "Your mom would make a very good Watson."

            "Uh-huh. Not Sherlock? I bet she'd look awesome with a pipe." I said with a smile while I pulled out the extra bed underneath mine. Most of the time, it would either be Jason or Nico who would spend the night in our apartment and mom would always feel bad about letting them sleep on the couch, so Paul recently decided to buy me a new bed with an extra bed compartment underneath.

            "No. I think Aunt Sally would be a little too emotional to be Sherlock, so Watson is more likely." he pointed out while absently holding my pillow in his arms. "Besides, Watson has a pretty strong intuition."

            I shrugged and went on to removing my shirt to change to a fresh one. "I dunno, so does Sherlock and I'm pretty sure mom has a good intuition. She's a woman after all, right?"

            "Probably. Even if they're not women, I'm sure _everyone_ has a good set of intuition with them. _All of them_ except _you_."

            "Hey!" I called out indignantly after being relatively called oblivious. I couldn't exactly turn around to look at him since my head is currently stuck inside my shirt, but by the time I did Nico was already lying asleep on my side of the bed. Tattered jeans, black shirt, mismatched socks and all.

            "Guess I'll be taking the bottom bunk then." I said and decided it was light's out. I'll chew Nico's ear off for taking my bunk tomorrow.

 

 

            The next morning wasn't any better than yesterday. I was having a nightmare about me standing on a pile of rock in the middle of the university courtyard fighting off a horde of would-be goons and a god standing behind me and screaming _“Kill! Kill! Kill!”_ right on my ear. The feeling of him nudging me with his foot didn't help, nor is him stepping on my head and lightly stomping on it. Not to mention I was ticklish on the side, too.

            "-seus." 

            I groaned, I tried to get up from the cold pedestal then imagined I was falling from the pile of glistening white rock. What time is it, should I really be playing with a bunch of loonies and entertaining a trigger-happy god?

            "Perseus. It's already 8 o'clock. We're late for class."

            I sat up quickly, my eyes shooting open, my vision bleary and blotched with black as the blood rushed to and fro my head at the same time from sitting up too quickly. "What?!" I blurted out.

            "The alarm didn't go off, so we overslept. I was planning on going back to the house for a change of clothes, too." he said, but he was already clearly wearing a fresh set of clothes he had left here weeks ago.

            "Mom. Did she leave already?" I murmured while I was trying to get myself up, disentangling myself from the blankets and almost making a fool of myself nearly falling on the floor when my foot failed to get out of the mess of blankets and bedsheet I was in.

            "Yeah. She gave me some money so we could buy sandwiches instead on the way to school."

            "Sure. Give me a sec." I nodded groggily and I headed off to the bathroom for a quick shower.

            Throughout the cold shower, I tried to shake out the grim feeling I was having since waking up from that dream. I wasn't sure why, but recently I realized that whenever I dream of things like those it would usually mean that something close to it would happen to me in the future. Screaming god or not. That or I'm reading too much comic books. It's probably the latter, but I wouldn't know with my brain.

            "Percy! Hurry up! We still have to buy breakfast!" Nico banged on my bathroom door.

           

 

            So, we arrived late at class. Two hours late to be exact and our grand entrance gave Dr. Brunner a reason to ask us the hard questions.

            "Mr. Jackson and Mr. di Angelo. It's so nice of you to finally join us. Please take your seats." he said, gesturing to the empty seats in front of the class. Jason and the others were seated where we were yesterday looking apologetic on not being able to keep our seats saved for us.

            It wasn't really that much of a big deal having to be made to sit down in front of the class, but the snickers and wolf calls were getting a little annoying. Not to mention I can already feel Nico begin to tense up and go back to his brooding mood.

            Dr. Brunner then veered his wheelchair towards the projector and pointed out to one of the pictures on the image of a stele. "Mr. di Angelo, do you have any idea on what this picture represents?"

            Of course, Nico, being a bookworm and a nerd on his own right answered the question easily. "That's the image of the Titan Lord Kronos eating his children because he was afraid the prophecy of him being overthrown by his own kin would come true."

            "Must be tasty." I heard someone snicker from behind me.

            "Correct, Mr. di Angelo." Dr. Brunner hummed in approval and nodding.

            That's when I heard someone mumble, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to matter in our job applications, anyway. And maybe it'll go like, "Mr. _Perseus_ Jackson, please explain in full detail why does this matter in real life. They're your relatives, aren't they?" Then I heard snickers break out from him and his friends. 

              _What?_

            “Mr. _Perseus_ Jackson. Do you have any special powers like your relatives?” Another guy added.

            _What the hell was that for?_ I was about to tell the morons to shut up when Dr. Brunner spoke up, "Why, Mr. Jackson," he called out my attention and I had to reluctantly look back at him. "to paraphrase Mr. Sloan's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

            "Ooh! Busted." Leo, apparently having heard the mumbling, snickered from behind the group.

            "Shut up," Matt Sloan hissed, his face being so red he probably looked like a bullied dog with his droopy eyes like a Pitbull's to come with that. Dr. Brunner seemed to be the only one who manages to catch anyone saying anything wrong, I'm beginning to wonder if he has bionic ears.

            I thought hard about the question, but nothing came to mind. "I don't really know, sir." I shrugged.

            "I see." Dr. Brunner regarded me for a while, his eyes looking mildly disappointed, yet understanding. "Well, it is almost time for me to dismiss the class. I will let all of you have that as an assignment. It doesn't need to be passed nor written, but you must think about what I have said. Until tomorrow then, class dismissed."

            The class went on with their respective schedules, some of the students heading out for break and the others to their other classes afterwards. Matt Sloan's group, however, would have plowed into Nico and I if we hadn't dodged in time. _Great._ Looks like we finally encountered a group of ogres wanting to skin us alive.

            My friends and I were about to follow when Dr. Brunner called me aside, "Mr. Jackson."

            I told the others to keep going. Then I turned to Dr. Brunner, "Sir?" He had this look aimed towards me that wouldn't let you go - intense brown eyes that I swore could have been a thousand years old, wiser than any other fifty year old man I know.

            "You must learn the answer to my question, young man." he told me.

            "Uhm... about Kronos eating his kids?" I asked.

            "No. About your studies. And on how all of this applies to real life."

            "Oh. Sure."

            "What you learn from me, young man, is vitally important. Latin, while it is a language long forgotten, it's as valuable as any language and I will have you treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."

            At that time, I wanted to get angry at him. It was only the second day of class and he's decided to start pushing me this hard. I mean, _okay, sure_ , it would be cool to have some sort of responsibility and expectation pushed your way. But Dr. Brunner expected me not to be good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and ADHD and I have never made a grade above C level in my entire student career. _No_. He expected me to be better than anyone else, he wanted me to be the best.

            I mumbled something about trying harder and not being late for class again. He told me to go outside and meet up with my friends again and I did without hesitation.

            The moment my friends and I got out of the courtyard, I was met with a rough shove on the chest. "Hey!", Jason called out to the hooligans as he caught me.

            "Oops. Didn't see you there, _Perseus_." Matt Sloan grinned at me with his crooked teeth, one of it have been chipped. Despite the fact that he was wearing expensive clothing, it didn't really help in tidying up his looks of a stray dog.

            I must admit, I only like being called by my real name when it's either Nico or my parents who would call me that. But when anyone else would so far as to say the first syllable, I wanted to kick them hard in the nuts they wouldn't be able to stand for a week, much less even have their voices back to their normal pitch.

            I tried to stay cool, count silently to ten to get control of my temper when I got pushed again. This guy was making it hard for me to stay calm. "What's the matter, Perseus? Not gonna get out of my way? Do you want to eat me like your granddaddy did?" he teased me further.

            "Dude, back off." Jason growled low, stepping forward and having on what we called a "praetor's look" with him. I was fearing he would suddenly shout orders of doing only gods know how many sets of push-ups and chin ups. I appreciate him for wanting to stand up for me, but I was thankful Piper and Leo held him back.

            "It's cool, man." I said as I straightened up and tried to shrug it off. "Look, I understand you didn't see me that well with your eyes being droopy and all. The day being too, _Slow_ n?"  

            I heard Matt give off a low snarl, his burly figure looking even taller when he stepped up in front of me. "Back off, _Per-si-us_. If you don't want me to pound you senseless.". 

            I heard Nico try to talk me out of making things worse, but I didn't care. I was too mad about the name my mom takes so much pride of giving me being made fun of. A wave roared in my ears and I pushed Matt Sloan off his feet with an equally hard shove."I don't need to be a hero to beat up idiots like you, Sloan. I just need to be quicker."

            The next thing I know, I was chased around the courtyard and I used my skateboard to keep Sloan and his gang from catching me. There were a few close calls with some of Sloan's goons almost getting a hold of my hood or the hem of my jacket, but I managed to continue picking up speed. I veered my way to the water hose left unattended by a gardener and picked it up. It isn't the most ideal weapon of choice against a bunch of ugly looking bulldogs chasing after me, but it was worth a shot.

            "Coward!" Matt called after me, growing frustrated and angry about his inability to catch me.

            "I'm not being a coward! You're just being slow!" I shouted to keep their attention to me, circling around them in a wide arc with my skateboard, Riptide. "You call that running? You're so bad at waddling, even a duck would outrun you!"

            " _Argh!_ " one of his friends didn't seem to have a very long fuse to spare, so he did what any stupid burly guy would do. He stomped his feet and broke into a loud run. _Oh great, at least I know my plan worked._

            I scrambled towards the middle of the courtyard and towards a statue of the university mascot. A statue of the war god Mars stood firmly on a white marble pedestal with his arms crossed over his chest, his chest heaved out and his face looking tense as if he was getting ready to shout at every student who passes by, _'What do you think you retards are doing?! Kill one another! DIE!'_. I looked at the statue with disgust and I felt a swelling feeling of anger building up in my chest just by looking at his handsome, yet heavily scarred face. As to why he's the school mascot instead of an angry looking wolverine, I wouldn't know.

            Not wasting any second, I got off my skateboard and strapped it on my bag before clambering up the slick white fifteen-foot tall statue in front of me. It was hard trying to climb up with a garden hose wrapped around my shoulder and trying to find a foothold on the angry god's face. By the moment I got on his shoulders, I only lost footing around twice. The first one I found a foothold around his crotch and the other on his pectoral muscles. Must have been painful for the god, but I wouldn’t care less. In fact, I'm sure that even if the said god was real, he'll be laughing his heart out on how much I look like a cornered rat right now than care about his wounded manhood.

            Looking around, I found Jason and the others scattered and doing some sort of diversion in the midst of the audience that gathered around to see the spectacle of a garden-hose-wielding boy climbing to his death on the statue of Mars.

            Not a very nice way to leave the world having to see my name printed in the newspaper with the emphasized words of _"Percy Jackson, age 19, died falling off the armpit of Mars.",_ but I had no choice. It was either this or to get pummeled to death. And getting pummeled to death isn't something that's very high on my list, so I'll choose the former.

            From underneath me, Matt Sloan and his group of ugly looking goons were gathered around the statue and would have already been clambering up if not for my occasional blasts of water from the hose.

            "Gods damn you, Jackson! Get off of that schist!" One of Matt's friends named Joe Bob or whatever the tattoo on his left arm that says "JB loves sweetcakes" stands for bellowed as he tried to climb up the statue again, but his little potbelly kept getting in his way and causing him to slip off the moss covered camouflage pants of Mars.

            _"Excuse me?"_ I asked out loud, honestly having misheard the word. "You're calling Mars shit?"

            "Schist! It's a schist!" Joe Bob corrected, "Schist is not good for climbing! Get down here so we could beat you up!" he asked nicely, and as much as I would like to get down and not have the glowering face of Mars next to me, I shook my head.

            "This piece of schist is nice, thank you very much." I smiled then was about to blast him with water when someone, who I think was Nico, called out from the crowd.

            "Hey, Billy Joe! Your name is so lame it sounds like schist!"

            “It’s not Billy Joe!” he whined. I guess Joe Bob wasn't the smartest of the group. He clambered back down the statue and headed to the crowd to look for Nico. Unfortunately for him the guy is an expert in blending in with the crowd and weaving in and out of it easily, too.

            "Over here, you moron! Can you catch me, or are you too slow to even waddle?" Nico called out from the other side of the crowd. The guy could be quick if he wants to. I found myself grinning when I heard Jason's voice this time.

            "Hey, Sloan! Think fast!"

            The moment Matt and his friends turned to look at Jason's direction, piles of dried leaves were blown towards them. At the back of the leaf blower were Jason and Leo fistbumping each other, with Leo cackling like a madman when he turned the blower into full speed when screeches and girly screams came from the goons.

            That left one of Matt's minions -wearing a tattered shirt with a print of "Skull Eater" in neon pink- in commission. And he was the biggest of the idiot trio, too. "Oh, _Perseus_. Lay down your hair!" he said in an awfully low sing-song voice.

            I blasted a jet of water straight to his face, causing him to splutter and wave his arms like a fish out of water. "No thanks, you don't make a handsome prince charming." I said, climbing up and now literally sitting on Mars' head when I saw Skull Eater begin to climb back up.

            "Hey, prince charming! How about going for a real princess?" Piper called out from the crowd, also holding one of the garden hoses scattered around. I cracked a smile.

            My mom used to tell me to pick my friends wisely because they'll be the ones to count on when it matters most. Matt didn't seem to have heard that from his parents. His friends, while they were physically capable were kind of lacking in the intellectual department. So as any lumbering giant of a friend he is, Skull Eater clambered back down and went towards Piper with a dreamy look in his eyes. "You'll go out with me?" he asked in a hopeful tone with a resonating low bass.

            Piper gave him a friendly smile worthy of a daughter of Aphrodite minus the friendly look in her eyes. "Oh, no." she said melodically. "But my friend, the garden hose, here would." She turned the valve open and gave Skull Eater a full blast on the chest, making him fall flat on his behind over Joe Bob, who in turn landed on Sloan.

            "Get off of me!" Matt wailed indignantly, pushing the two buffoons away from him. I looked down on Matt and watched him spit out wads of leaves and having some occasional dirt and twig stuck on his designer clothing. Taking pity on the state his attire was in, I doused him a generous amount of _eau de aqua_ , causing him to fall flat on his behind. Then the crowd went wild with applause and wolf whistles.

            "Any more trying to make fun of me or my friends, you'll go through the king of schist-"

            "and water cannons!" Leo called out from the leaf blower, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his face plastered with a wide impish grin. "and leaf blowers, too!"

            I grinned at seeing Matt's smoldering look towards me. "Like what Leo said."

            The moment I was about to raise the gardening hose to douse Matt Sloan and his friends, a shrill sound of a police whistle rang before a booming voice called out, scaring the beegeezus out of me.

            " _Perseus Jackson!_ Get off of that statue immediately or you will be expelled!"       


	3. I Meet A Real-life Disney Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear GEEXAO, 
> 
> Can't we get along just fine? Hahaha
> 
> Seriously, you're making my heart race.
> 
> Sincerely, 
> 
> zehel_red
> 
> =================================
> 
> Hey, Guys!  
> This is my second update for the fic.  
> It was supposed to be published a few days ago, but the internet was being a pain in the podex.  
> I'm really surprised it got these many hits overnight that my heart is threatening to jump out.  
> Thank you for the kudos, I really appreciate it *cries a river*
> 
> Also, please don't mind my friend GEEXAO hahahaha we're bros and... well yeah, it's true this really is kinda a fic war.  
> Please find time to read his work entitled "Intuition". It's awesome and told in other characters' POVs as well :D  
> Here's the link if you're interested:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/3326513/chapters/7271471

P E R C Y

= THREE =

 

* * *

 

           

            Here we are, sitting down in the director’s office, waiting for the school director to arrive. The small fight that happened a few minutes ago caught the majority of the student body’s attention - most of them probably having their breaks and just waiting for something interesting to happen. Fortunately, the show lived up to their expectations. Unfortunately, the professors also found out about it and even more unfortunate was my friends and I are the only ones getting punished for it.

            So here's an equation: Here is me, the unknown in this whole problem called life and here on the other side are my dreams of being a good model student. Take the good model away from the equation and all I become is a student. Now, I’m not even sure if I will still be a student after this.

            “Oh man, this sucks! I was having fun blasting the Sloan guy with the leaf blower, too.” Leo huffed, sinking into the lush red couch and lounging around like he owned the place.

            “And maybe you’ll have fun blowing leaves somewhere else, Valderama.” A grumpy voice harrumphed from the door’s direction. I looked up and only had to direct my gaze downward when all I saw was the thick wooden door staring back at my face. The owner of the voice was a small guy, probably a little taller than Coach Hedge but still smaller than Leo. He had a plump red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it looked almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels – what do they usually call them, hubbubs? No. I think it was cherubs. He looked like one, except he looked like a middle-aged cherub created for a live-action movie of Grimm’s fairytales or one of those Supernatural episodes featuring the dark side all cute things have.

            “That’s Mr. D.,” Jason whispered to me, leaning close to my ear just for effect. “short for Dionysus Bach. He’s the university director, so, you know. Be polite.”

            I nodded my thanks, still having my eyes glued to the short director giving all of us quick once-overs. That time, I was thankful for Jason’s walking encyclopedia tendencies. I remembered having heard Mr. D give a _very_ welcoming speech yesterday during the orientation, consisting of drawls and slurs in mid-sentence, but I haven’t really paid much attention in the whole program. If I hadn’t known better, I would have asked Mr. D. who he was a while back and that would have been a little embarrassing considering he's the university's director. Would it be weird if I tell you guys that I could practically feel my heart hitting hard against my rib cage when Mr. D looked at me a little longer than a second? And it's not caused by feelings of love, too. I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard the familiar whirring of Dr. Brunner’s wheelchair from the back. I risked a glance and saw him with a grim and thoughtful expression on his face, but he gave a clipped nod towards me.

            “So what were these hooligans doing in my lawn a while back that I need to punish them for it?” Mr. D. asked with disinterest as he made his way to his desk, sitting on his swivel chair like it was his throne rather than a plain office chair. I watched his head bob up and down as most of the large wooden table hid him from our view. It was kind of funny when I think about it and what's scarier is I find it even funnier now that I'm in a lot of trouble. I had to consciously bite my lower lip as I continued to stare at him with sudden amusement. With his ridiculous potbelly looking like it wanted to pop out and say hello from his loud dress shirt which was obviously a size too small for him, he looked more like a store manager than an educator.

            “Oh, but Mr. Bach, you wouldn’t really need to punish us. We haven’t hurt anybody. At least not someone who didn't deserve it.” Piper started talking with a soothing tone in her voice. When I heard her speak, I felt this strange wave of relief and forgiveness start to wash over me. There was really something about her voice that works like a hypnotism device of some sort and I was beginning to think if it was a form of Cherokee powers from her she kept secret from us. I was about to nod in agreement when Mr. D. just gave out an impatient huff like he was already used to students sweet-talking their way out of trouble.

            “Charming, Petra Mackley. But please, direct your _very_ charming self to someone else. I'm not interested.” He said with a heavy sigh, effectively shutting Piper up and having her gape at him with indignation. “Chiron here has told me that you,” he rolled out his finger in a circular motion towards us, “brats messed up my lawn.”

            “Actually, it’s more like… giving the courtyard some visual upgrades.” I said casually and I felt Nico painfully nudge at my side for it, regarding me with a _“what are you doing?”_ look.

            Mr. D. squinted hard at me with bloodshot eyes. If there was one thing Gabe taught me, it was being able to tell if someone was a little too high on the happy juice. It’s a miracle to have someone so high on the substance, but still stay coherent enough to talk to, much less still allow to be in the educational field. If Mr. D. is still considered a stranger to alcohol then you would have to consider me as non-existent. “And I suppose you’re the infamous Peter Johnson.”

            “It’s Percy Jackson.” I said.

            “Percy Jackson, _sir.”_ He emphasized.

            “Sir.” I repeated tentatively. I was beginning to dislike him more and more and I could feel Nico and Jason grow a little tense beside me, too. _Good._ I wasn’t the only one who’s not exactly hitting the happy notes now. Neither one of us in the group had something else to say as we felt the tension build up the longer Mr. D. locked his eyes on us. I had to avert my eyes away when we unintentionally locked gazes because I felt as though peering through his eyes would drive me insane with the manic and dangerous look in it and that staring at it would make me see catastrophes worse than the bombing in Hiroshima.

            With a cough, Dr. Brunner managed to ease the tension. He veered his wheelchair towards us and settled between the two couches, subtly giving me something akin to moral support. “Mr. D., if I may clear the air about this.” He started and I found myself nodding to it as quickly. “The children here weren’t the ones who were responsible for the whole fiasco.”

            I was supposed to agree on it by saying something snarky against Sloan and his group of protein junkies until Dr. Brunner turned to me with a serious look in his eyes silently warning me to keep my mouth shut, so I did as I was told.

            “At least, not entirely.” He said and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

            “What do you mean not entirely?” Mr. D. asked with disgruntlement, apparently looking displeased by not having someone to punish just as gravely.

            “From what Mr. Thorn and Mrs. Gottschalk has told me, the… hmm… what do you call this? _Ah,_ squabble involved another group of students. Matt Sloan’s if I remember correctly.” Dr. Brunner said.

            “Oh, good! More students to punish!” Mr. D. said with a happy grin on his face, looking giddy in his seat like an overgrown five year-old waiting for his candy. “So, where are they?” he asked genuinely curious as to why he's seeing less heads present in the room.

            Dr. Brunner gave a displeased hum in his throat. “Apparently, they have gotten away, Mr. D.”

            The next thing I know, Leo was raising his hand like how a student usually does to ask a question in the classroom. Mr. D. gave him a disinterested look, but nevertheless entertained him. “What is it, Vasquez?” he asked.

            “I hope you don't mind, but what does the word “punishment” actually mean, Mr. D.?” he asked after reminding himself to politely correct him of his surname. “Like are we gonna get suspended, expelled… killed, maybe? I dunno. Punishment makes me think of a lot of things. Big, nasty things. So can you clear that up for us?” then he looked a little unsure and grinned. “Please?”

            If I was sitting next to Leo, I would have hit him upside the head for apparently giving our director some ideas on how to punish us. Seriously,  he says that he's a born genius, but the guy could be a little tactless in what to say (not that Jason and I are innocent in that area). Luckily, Piper did the honors of hitting Leo on the shoulder.

            “Please don’t mind him, Mr. Bach. He’s just a little nervous.” Said Piper soothingly with a friendly smile across her lips. "But about the punishment-"

            "I was thinking about expelling you from this school, but-" Mr. D. grumbled and harrumphed before waving his hand and leaning back on his swivel chair as he slowly brushed his beard down with his hands in a pondering gesture, making it groan in protest. With the serious look he had going on, I had to fight the urge to swallow dryly. Please let it not be expulsion. My mom will kill me! "Alright, community service for a month."

            " _What?!_ " I exclaimed. A month's service for blowing leaves over Mars to look like a Disney princess? He's got to be kidding me! This isn't even the correct way of doing equivalent exchange.

            "Would you like to make it two, Mr. Jetson?" Mr. D. said with a subtle hint of challenge. "I could even make it three if I'm feeling generous."

           "It's Jackson." I unintentionally growled low, "sir." I added reluctantly at seeing him raise an eyebrow at me as if daring me to stand up and challenge him while I'm at it. "Don't get me wrong, _sir_. But a month's community service for blowing leaves around the courtyard? That's too much."

            "Well, boo-hoo. I could even make the five of you suspended for doing all these shenanigans. You're students, not a bunch of superhero wannabes. Now if you're done whining about doing _two_ months of service, then you can leave, I want to play pinochle."

            "Now, wait a minute...! Why'd it become two months-" I finally stood up, annoyed at how much of a big pushover Mr. D. is. Sensible educators could be given sense to if spoken with properly, apparently, Mr. D. isn't one of those. For a director who should be exercising fairness and justice to students, he doesn't really fit the role with his pompous attitude. Nor does the role of a responsible educator.

            I was pulled aside by Jason who shook his head in warning. We both knew that if I voiced out more protests against the punishment, it would only get worse. Maybe even have us expelled just over messing up _his_ lawn.

            "Welcome to Westgrove University, Mr. Jefferson! The statue of Mars awaits you, _Blah blah blah._ " he called after us a little too happily before rolling his hand into a _'get out'_ gesture towards the door, humming a familiar tune of something from Mardi Gras as we stomped back outside.

            In the end, Dr. Brunner explained that we had to do community service around the university for two months  - Monday to Friday, every lunch and after school hours - which consisted of arranging books in the library, sweeping the sidewalks, pruning the weeds, wearing the university mascot and, yeah, the biggest insult ever, wiping Mars' big piece of schist clean of bird poop and probably have the biggest manicure given to him to those pale godly fingers of his.

            "The next time, be more careful in handling your squabbles, Percy. I might not always be here to get you out of it" Dr. Brunner warned me despite the small smile playing on his lips. "I don't usually tolerate mischief, but what you have done a while back. It was a form of heroism in itself."

            I felt his hand rest on my arm and give it a firm shake like he was proud of me and my friends standing up for our own.

            "Heroism, chivalry and loyalty. It's something that's becoming lost in your generation. Keep it with you, Perseus." he said with pride brimming in his voice and his eyes glistening with equal fervor like he had raised heroes on his own. He probably did with his profession as an educator. He would have probably molded a lot of individuals well with his morals. I nodded my head. I couldn't possibly feel all humble with what I have done with someone looking so proudly at me like I did something right once in my entire delinquent life even if it only consisted of me firing water cannons at the perpetrators. "You and your friends just might be heroes in your age."

            I hope so, too.

 

 

 

            "Hey, _Perseus!_ You missed a spot!", called out one of the students as they passed by me hanging around Mars' arms like we have been best buddies for ages.

            I rolled my eyes in annoyance when I heard another student point out about me missing something totally non-existent in the god's face. Yesterday, those wise guys would have been cheering for the _'King of Schist and Water Cannons'_ , now they're just one of those guys who would poke fun at it like it was something from a gag show. I heaved a heavy sigh and shook my head. A short-lived victory in the battle against the Sloan troupe.

            It would have been hard for me to deal with this humongous amount of bull if I hadn't had this very same treatment ever since I was a student, so I did what would help me deal with this best. I took out my iPod, put the volume in full blast and snapped my headphones against my ears willing my attention to be pulled in by the thrumming bass and treble playing in my ears. Feeling the beat boost up my energy, I squirted a generous amount of surface cleaner on an old toothbrush and began giving Mars a godly makeover.

            It was only when I felt an annoying pelting sensation against my arms a few minutes later did I remove my headphones.  "Ever heard of calling my name, Nico?" I asked when I looked down from my makeshift harness hanging on the head of Mars so it looked like I was doing some aerial dancing right in front of the god's miraculously clean nose.

             Nico regarded me with an un-amused scowl and a raised eyebrow, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he rolled his eyes. "Maybe I would if I could? But it just so happened that you had your headphones jammed in your ears?" he asked rhetorically and with just a not-so-obvious hint of sarcasm in it.

            I sighed. He did have a point. I put my headphones back around my neck and put the old toothbrush in the carpenter's tool belt I was lent to before I shimmied down the statue to meet Nico eye-to-eye. By the time I got back down the ground, I could see a small glint of whiteness come from the god's teeth. Well, at least that's one row of teeth down and another one to go. "So, what's up?" I asked as I dusted myself off.

            "Come on, it's already time for library duty." He told me in clipped tones before turning around to head (in Nico's case, stomping) towards the university library. I didn't know why Nico had been in a bad mood today, but I was guessing it was because he was pissed off with those students who just wanted to join the bandwagon of pissing someone off with their taunts and teasing.

            By the time we arrived in the library and the jarring crowd began to thin out along the corridors of the north wing, I saw Nico's tense shoulders begin to relax. He had always been more relaxed where there were less people around. Even when we were children, he would like it better when we would just play inside the safety of our houses rather than be outside the community playground and deal with bratty children who only sees the fun in playing when they make someone cry.

            The library wasn't that big like the ones in the public library, but the place was spacious enough to easily hold a hundred or so students at once without having a cramped up feeling to it. The place didn't look that crowded, either, because of the cream-colored walls, the big panes of windows lining each other around the library, the well-spaced out rows of shelves holding books of all kinds and the fair amount of chairs and tables for students and university staff to use scattered around the place.

            If I hadn't had been diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD, I would have found myself a haven when it comes to hanging out somewhere nice and quiet. A place to get away from reality and into my own. Nico, however, seemed to fit in perfectly because of his solitary personality and his huge love for books and anything history, except right now he was kind of sticking out like a sore thumb because of his all black attire of tattered jeans, black sneakers and a black graphic tee showing the band "Fall Out Boy" on it. He looked like someone who would be attending a loud rock concert than someone who decided to spend some alone time in the library.

            Nico headed towards the cart filled with stacks of newly returned books in great need of peace and order. "I'll be by the shelves to stack some books. You can take the check-out duty." He told me. I only nodded in gratitude towards him as I thought that because of our height difference and body build I would have been the one in charge of returning them. I wasn't really good in categorizing things by color or by kind in my dresser, let alone categorize books in that Decimal system that sounded something along the names of Donald Duck's nephews. Was it Hewey? Louie? I think it was Dewey.

            Things were going a little slow today since only a handful of students were dropping by to borrow books or just simply hang out in the library. It was a Wednesday and usually students would be cutting classes or catching up on their sleep because of what we call the "mid-week" crisis where energy levels are running dangerously low and the amount of people victimized by the bed's charm increases at a high rate.

            With no one to attend to and with Nico in his own devices, practically melting with the shadows and disappearing in the midst of those shelves losing himself in the world of written knowledge and history, I was all alone with my thoughts. Usually my mind would tell me something life altering and enlightening and right now my thoughts were telling me to catch me some shut-eye. No one was around and it's not like I would be in any serious trouble if I was caught sleeping, no, taking a power nap. I was tired from raking leaves and cleaning Mars' pearly whites, anyway, so I did just what my brain told me to do. I took a nap.

            With what I thought was only around fifteen minutes, I heard a slightly-too-loud thud against the check-out counter that shocked me out of my little hush-hush routine. I quickly straightened myself awake from my position - hunched over the counter and with my head leaning on the heel of my right hand - and looked at the person who had, presumably, intentionally dropped the books on the counter just to startle me.

            My eyes soon met startlingly stormy gray ones. A girl around my age was hovering over me, smirking and staring at me with those startling eyes of hers. She had curly blonde hair like a princess' that fell around her shoulders in a loose ponytail. She was probably around my height, too, a few inches shorter than me and she was athletic looking. With her deep tan and her blonde hair, I would have mistaken her as the stereotypical California girl, except her eyes ruined the image. It made her look intimidating, if not pretty, as if she was analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.

            She glanced at the crumpled paper I was unintentionally leaning my elbows on while I was sleeping, then back at me. I thought that she was going to tell me something a typical _'goody-two-shoes'_ student would tell me like " _Oh, you fell asleep! I'm gonna tell the teacher on you!"_ or " _Don't you know that you're sleeping on a possibly historical relic just now?_  "or something like that. Instead, she told me with a serious look in her eyes. "I'm going to be borrowing these." She pushed the pile of books towards me without ceremony.

            It took me a while to realize that I was gaping at her and I had to hear a distinct clearing of her throat to pull me out of my staring spree. I felt the blood rush to my face in embarrassment. Quickly, I took the stack of books presented at me and checked out the books she wanted to borrow, all the while trying to stop myself from glancing once in a while towards her direction. If anything, it feels a little bit uncomfortable feeling someone staring at you from beginning to end. Couldn't take the temptation anymore, I stole a quick glance when I felt that she moved to look somewhere else.

            She was really beautiful wearing her hair like that and having those cute owl earrings on her ear. She looked a little like Felicity from the Arrow series I recently got hooked on because of Jason's recommendation with her blonde hair, intelligent eyes and that serious look on her face, except this girl had a very intimidating and authoritative aura in her like she could probably even judo-throw someone if crossed.

            "So, uh," I peeked at the library card on top of the stack of books. Her name was Annabeth Chase. A pretty name for a pretty girl. "Ms. Chase?" I asked as I read her name aloud for pronunciation. I was greeted back by a curt nod, telling me I was right with how I said her name. "These books only have three days borrowing period, so you have to bring it back by Friday."

            She nodded and said with a small smile, "I know." She took the books from the counter, in exchange for the library card she will have to leave.

            I watched her stuff the books in her backpack and zip it closed before turning to leave. I was close to being discovered that I was staring at her (read: unconsciously) when she suddenly turned around to look at me one last time. I quickly looked away, but risked a glance towards her and then I saw her give me a small smirk.

            "You drool when you sleep."

            Then she sprinted off towards the exit, her blonde hair flying behind her.

            I gaped indignantly at the closing door and hastily rubbed the back of my hand against my lips. I found out three things about what she had told me. One, I didn't have drool or any trace of it at all. Two, she got a lot more spunk than I would have thought for a blonde and three, I felt my heart skip a beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it! The final chapter of Percy's POV. The next one will be told in Nico's perspective and will be told right after the fateful encounter of Percy and Annabeth.
> 
> I hope you liked the update!  
> Comments and suggestions would be highly appreciated.
> 
> Thank you in advance for those who will leave kudos! (and thanks for those who have left it) You guys are the best!
> 
> P.S. It's purely coincidental that GEEXAO's latest update ended Nico's POV and would start with Percy's. and mine ending Percy's and starting with Nico's. We don't know how each of our stories would end up, so we're all kind of in the same boat waiting for updates from one another.
> 
> Also, I'll be a little busy with work during weekdays, so I wouldn't be able to post as much.   
> Stay tuned!


	4. When in Doubt, Use Google

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dearest nerd, GX
> 
> Why didn't you tell me you uploaded yours already?  
> I'm only a text away :/   
> urgh
> 
> Your dork,   
> zehel_red
> 
> ==========
> 
> Hey, guys! 
> 
> Sorry for not uploading after a few days.  
> I had some things to take care of at work...  
> and yeah, I was waiting for GX to upload his. 
> 
> Anyway, anyone who hasn't read his work entitled, "Intuition", should give it a quick read.  
> It's in by no way related to mine (but who knows? It just might? Depends on the ending if it coincides with his beginning)  
> It's written in different characters' POVs and it's awesome as hell.
> 
> Here's a link to his work:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/3326513/chapters/7271471
> 
> ===============
> 
> Also, thanks to those who left comments and kudos and to those who have read the story.  
> You guys are the best. In fact, you guys rock! (no pun intended)

N I C O

= FOUR =

* * *

 

        

           "You look stupid." I said.

           Not that Percy doesn't always look like that with his stupid grin and his _bubbly_ personality -no pun intended-, but this time he really does look idiotic gaping at the door like he saw something otherworldly.

            "Why are you looking at the door like that?" I asked while putting the stack of books I'd like to borrow on the check-out counter. I was just answered by a big toothy grin and a - _oh gods_. Was that a giggle just now? I felt my eyebrows creep high on my forehead because of it. "Perseus?"

            "She's cute." Percy said with a dreamy sigh, his face looking like he was lost in euphoria while he slowly sunk back in his chair. Where have I seen this look of his before? I know I've seen it, but I just couldn't get my head around it.

            "Who is?"  I asked, trying to sound nonchalant  while trying to hide the annoyed edge out of my voice. The more I think about it, while he does look "endearing" with his light and sassy personality, it makes him annoying and frustrating to deal with most of the time, especially when he gets goo-goo eyed like this. The damn hopeless romantic in him is acting up again.

            Percy regarded me with another grin and drawled out, "Annabeth Chase."

            I suddenly felt my mind reel at the mention of her name. It sounded as familiar to me as an annoying Justin Bieber song that keeps on replaying in your head when you listen to it or a movie's ending credit repetitively rolling right in front of your eyes. I probably heard her name from my sisters Bianca and Hazel (Hazel being my half-sister, long story. I'll explain later.). I'm not entirely sure since I wasn't wholly interested in whatever sphere of influence they might always be in, but I was sure they mentioned that name one more than one occasion.

            I just shrugged and leaned on the counter instead. "I don't know her." I said, trying to look as casual as I could while fighting the urge to tip my toes to make myself look a little bit taller. Damn my father's genes for making me only half a foot taller than the counter. "But I'm pretty sure she should be a little more than average."

            "Really?" Percy said with an interested look on his face and I had to fight the urge to scowl at him. _Oh great_. I'm sure he just met the girl and now he's going full on stalker mode. I heaved a sigh and just rolled my eyes. What should I expect? Percy has always been a sucker for prospective girlfriends. Jason and Percy always has been calling each other as their own wingman, setting each other up for dates, coming up with their very own _bro_ code, their little black books and all those things. But when Jason finally had Piper for a girlfriend, as naturally as how the South and North pole would stick to one another, Percy had appointed me as his wingman. It's been like that for two years now.

            So how come Percy's still single?

            For one thing, his ideals for a girlfriend is as non-existent and whimsical as the next Disney princess. Second, I am not exactly what you would call as wingman material since all I'm surrounded with are Mythomagic Cards, online forums and books. Lastly, I just can't find the idea of hooking another person up as pleasing and satisfying as other people see it. Especially when that person involves Percy Jackson.

            Okay, you might all be saying _"Wow. What a nerd.", "It's okay to be anti-social, but don't drag your friends with it."_ or, _"I'm sure you're cute enough to get girls for your own, you’re just not trying hard enough."_ , so let me explain something for a while. I have never been as extraverted as Jason and Percy since we were children and making friends is something that I'm _trying_ (read: trying) to work on, so forgive me if I at least want to have one of my remaining best friends with me while I still can. Also, I'm two years younger than both of them. Dating someone has never really crossed my mind yet so how can you expect that I'll even know how to hook someone up with another person if I can't even for the life of me even think about hooking up with someone else?

            "So are you going to spend the night again? Mom's making Alfredo" Percy asked, the beep of the scanner bringing me out of my stupor. I blinked to process the question about the pending invitation. Ever since we were seven - five in my case- we would always have rotations in sleepovers, the first week of the month sometimes being in Jason's, then followed by mine then the third and last would be Percy's. As years went by it slowly became "Crash in Percy's Room" overnights, thus his stepdad decided to finally buy a bed with an extra bed compartment underneath so Jason and I wouldn't have to play rock-paper-scissors just to see who would get the couch.

            Usually, something like this would sometimes go unasked since Mrs. Jackson would be a really gracious host and insist that I’m already part of the family, but I still feel embarrassed in exploiting the said graciousness since my family isn't really the close-knit type, especially when it comes to parent-children relationships.

            I was about to decline with the promise of the sublime satisfaction of reading all the books I want to borrow tonight, but the thought of eating some tasty Alfredo for dinner got me – my stomach, actually. "Yeah, sure." I shrugged in agreement.

            "Great!"  He beamed at me just as he finished stamping my library card and giving me the books I wanted to read. “So, uh… What is this you’re going to read?” he asked, raising up one of the books in the stack and giving it a look with a mix of repulsion and curiosity like it was some sort of alien artifact he recently discovered."Lemony... Suj- oh. Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events'? Aren't you a little too old for this-"

            "What?" I asked defensively, swiping the book away from him and settling it back to the stack I borrowed. "These are good books. Besides, I've always wanted to know what it was all about."

            "Well, yeah. Maybe it's a good book about unfortunate events like it says. I haven't really read it because my life has been one fortunate event after another, you know." He said in voice full of sarcasm. I rolled my eyes in annoyance, hitting him on the arm just for good measure.

            "Yeah, maybe you'd also try to get a hand on some books that don't have superheroes in them." I retorted.

            He laughed in a way that it rang around the whole reception area. A moment later, we heard hisses coming from a few students busy burying their faces on book pages... and their study partner as they call it at the same time. While I have no qualms about their choices of destination before going out in an all-out make-out session, I can't help but shudder at their lack of tact and shame. Call me old fashioned, but I always think that there should be a limit on public displays of affection. Feeling a great need to annoy the people around me, I hit Percy again this time taking pleasure in making him try to control his voice into a squeak. He realized I just made fun of him and regarded me with an annoyed scowl.

            Then, the next thing he did made me realize why the girls in our class consider him as cute and charming, giving me a look so idiotic it makes him look innocent, yet cunning. He had on a crooked grin, the corner of his lips quirking up a little to the right and leaning more towards a smirk than an actual smile. His eyebrow moved up in an arch for a challenge and his startling sea-green eyes having on his usual mischievous glint in it brought out even more by his naturally mussed up dark hair always looking like he just went out for a walk by the sea. Right now as my sister, Hazel, had said it, he looked more like a Roman god than a mortal and as much as I hate it how he could be so charming without making much of an effort than I do ( Yeah, I put on some big effort into being likeable, okay? It's not easy to be considered charming when you have a natural brooding look on you.), it wasn't very hard to see why people find him likeable and easy to talk to.

            "Well, _maybe_ if you read it to me, I'd end up considering picking up an _actual_ book that doesn't have flying people flashing their bright red underwear to wow the crowd." he leaned over the counter with crossed arms to grin at me, teasing both my retort and my height at the same time.

            I laughed and shook my head at how incorrigible his sense of humor is. While his sass shows how quick on his feet he is, there's always something in his statements and choice of words that make him sound juvenile and obnoxious instead. "Ask nicely. Then _maybe_ I'll think about it." I teased back.

            "Whoa! For real?" He asked, blinking a little too excitedly at the notion of being read to like a five year-old.

            Before I could say something sarcastic in response, we had to break away from our conversation so Percy could attend to a few students wanting to borrow some books. I left Percy on his own devices and slipped back to the bookshelves to get back to arranging books, feeling a few students genuinely intent on studying regarding us with reprimanding looks for the short outburst of laughter and teasing a while back.

            Library duty went on like that for a few hours with me minding the shelves and the books, and with Percy minding the counter and students. It wasn't exactly what I would have called an ideal way of spending my free time as a college student, but if it's in the matter of our two month -long community service, I would prefer this activity more than having to clean our schist of a school statue free of bird manure and moss or die an early death due to the embarrassment of being caught wearing the school mascot and suffocation due to lack of fresh air. Besides, if you have your best friend to tease and make fun of with his apparent lack of knowledge in the field of classical literature three hours would pass by quickly.

           

To answer your question if I did go to Percy's house that night. I did, but I just ended up ignoring him right after dinner because I lost myself in reading some of the books I borrowed... albeit, loudly.

            My stay went over uneventfully - the usual dinner, shower and crashing into bed- except for feeling a little embarrassed in having to read entire chapters of _"Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events"_ aloud. Yeah, sure I'm reading to my best friend _'big deal,'_ but it's what made it more embarrassing and I had to continuously fight over myself to act nonchalantly about it and pretend that reading loudly is a thing I usually do or close the book and hide in a burrow and lock myself in it for years to come.

            By the middle of the fifth chapter, I started to grow more used to reading loudly. Pausing once in a while to look up and see if Percy's still paying attention or if I'm just making a fool of myself reading a children's novel aloud. Sometimes I'd pause and take a quick swig of water to relieve my parching throat. Amazingly enough when I stopped by the tenth chapter a little over midnight, I still found Percy sitting beside me with his complete attention in the book we were reading, looking over my shoulder to follow our progress and consequently having forgotten the gaming console he was so crazy about.

            "That's it?" He asked. "What happened next?"

            I rolled my eyes and lightly hit him on the head with the book. "What happens next is you and me sleeping. It's almost 1 am and we have classes tomorrow, idiot."

            "But I want to know what happens to the orphans next." He follows after me, scrambling over the edge of his bed to look over mine. "Just another chapter?"

            "Night, Jackson." I called out, collapsing on the bottom bunk and shutting out any form of protest from him by pulling the blanket over my head.

 

 

            Classes ended early today so I found myself going home for the first time this week. I looked over my shoulder, staring at the petite figure standing cross-armed against my bedroom door. Her skin was a warm brown the color of well-roasted cocoa beans, her small round face framed by a mess of curly black hair and her doe-shaped eyes the color of purest gold stared at me with un-amusement.

            "Nico, I don't want to be in the way with your friendship with Percy, but you knew I was coming over yesterday." she said, looking disappointed and giving out a small sigh when I just gave her a small apologetic look.

            "I'm sorry, sis. I really forgot about it. Besides, at least you and Frank got some time to spend together yesterday, right?"

            My half-sister, Hazel, shook her head and heaved another sigh before deciding to step inside, taking up the empty space on my bed like she always does when she visits my room.

            "Well, okay, so we did go out." she smiled bashfully while she fanned her face - a habit she took up whenever she'd be flustered or embarrassed- "So Frank and I got to have a small date yesterday, but it only consisted of us going to the movies together and walking around in Central Park."

            "Welcome to New York." I laughed sarcastically, earning a light smack on the arm. "No, really. That's what most New Yorkers do anyway."

            "Those _"most New Yorkers"_ you know only consists of Jason Grace and Percy Jackson." Hazel replied with a smile, both of us ending up laughing over my choice of exceptional models.

            I shook my head and gave my little sister a good look. She looked a little taller than when I last saw her, maybe she put on a few inches during the time she spent with her birth mother in New Orleans. Her hair has gotten longer, too - a little below her back and just barely above her waist. Her face lost a little of its roundedness but still managed to look elegant and timely like she's someone you'd call a classic African-American beauty back in the 40s.

            Now, you may ask how I'm related to Hazel Levesque given our differences in physical appearances. As I have said, she's my half-sister. Same father but a different mother. You see, after my mom, Maria di Angelo, died because of a freak accident when I was three, my dad devoted himself into going around the country and eventually around the world to manage the family business. It resulted in him being a kind of absent father since I was around 5 years old, leaving my older sister Bianca and me in the care of our stepmother, Persephone. During the first year my dad was away, driven by loneliness and longing for our mother, he met a woman with equal liking to the world of worldly riches my father walks on. Her name was Marie Levesque.

            Our family is actually an owner of a jewelry line called _"Styx and Stones"_ (Haven't heard of it? You probably really didn't because we're the ones who provide the raw materials to famous jewelry makers such as Bulgari, Harry Winston and all the other stores you could think of.).

            Back to the story, Marie Levesque was a local gris-gris maker in New Orleans. She believes that good money comes from only the best ingredients, that's why she usually visits a shop my father, Hades, had built and shops for the rarest gems and stones she could find. Like how the Fates must have... fated it -no pun intended- that time my dad was the one personally manning the shop. Their eyes met. A few awkward smiles and conversations later, you know the drill, consummated their love to one another then poof, there came my little sister, Hazel.

            Don't get me wrong, I love Hazel as much as I love Bianca despite the notion of other people that half-siblings never get along well. Sure, we have our differences that extend to more than our physical appearances but I'm quite happy that I do in fact have two sisters instead of one (well, sometimes. Not always. They really get under my skin once they suddenly decide to go giggly fits and boy-crazy on me and I suddenly ask why I have two sisters instead of brothers.) as they're practically all I have right now.

            Even if I did say that we have a stepmother to look after us, Persephone or nicknamed by her friends and overly doting mother as Persie, (Now you understand why I call my best friend by his real name? Yeah, that's why. If I call Perseus _'Percy'_ it'll be like calling after my stepmother. Which is plain awkward for me.) we're not really close and most of the time she would address her disdain about not having any biological children between her and my dad towards me and my siblings.

            If asked if I do want another sibling, I'll say no. It's not because I loathe my stepmother, but realistically speaking, I'm already seventeen nearing eighteen. When you have two sisters with you dealing with the occasional drama, screaming, bathroom hogging and mood swings would drive you insane. Besides, the thought of taking care of a kid almost two decades younger than me gives me the chills. Trust me, I know chills down to the last cell of my body.

            Why?

            I guess you haven't met my dad yet. Aides Plutarch di Angelo. Let's call him Hades for short. He's basically the winner and sole recipient of the _Most Absent Father_ award if ever the World Children's Federation would come up with the idea of holding an annual Emmy for parenting. He's never really around even on big events like birthdays, anniversaries or even graduations. He'll visit but it'll only be around a few minutes, and by then you won't even get to talk to him much because he'll be the one who'll do it, reprimanding us and reminding us that he's working _so_ hard into giving us a good life.

            Sure, my dad's cool since he's one of the wealthiest man alive providing me and my sisters allowance money way more than we needed. Personal chauffeurs at our beck and call. Credit cards with unlimited credit. VIP package and a penthouse suite in a Las Vegas hotel. Name it and he'll give it to you, all except for "quality time" with his own children because he's so busy thinking that every second wasted is an opportunity lost.       

            Honestly, if you were to ask how my father looks like, I couldn't tell you anything else besides _"People say I look like him."_. The amount of truth there is to it, I wouldn't know. Although back when I was fifteen, my sister, Bianca, would always tell me I look like our mother with my olive skin and black hair. Things slowly began to change when I hit sixteen. I hit my growth spurt and grew up to five inches taller (which is not a lot compared to Perseus and Jason. Those two must have taken growth pills or something to grow that tall.). The roundness of my cheeks gave way to the angular bone structure I share with my dad. I also lost the olive color of my skin and got replaced with my father's - the color of bleached paper with a tinge of blue -. It used to be a lot worse before when my chronic insomnia caused my health to deteriorate turning my skin almost the sickly shade of green. We share the same lean frame, short (but still average) stature typical of an Italian, wavy dark hair, dark obsidian eyes and an eternally brooding look in our faces and body language.

            I could probably spend the whole day telling you these things about my family, but I don't really feel the need to go into detail just yet. While my thoughts make me run my family history over and over again like a video reel, I was brought out of my reverie when I saw Hazel wave her hand along my peripheral view.

            "-ico."                                                                         

            "Huh? Oh... sorry. You were saying something?" I asked, not failing to notice the worried look on my sister's face. I crack a small smile at knowing how much she could be so in tuned with other people's emotions so easily.

            "I said you look like you're thinking too hard."

            Thinking too hard. Yeah, I probably am, but it's really nothing unusual since all I was thinking about was... oh, wait. I remembered something I was meaning to ask my sisters about since yesterday and it has something to do with-

            "Hazel," I suddenly started, causing her to quickly look up at me from browsing my Mythomagic collection. I paused for a while after, not knowing how to phrase my question properly without having to sound like I have an ulterior motive. "uh..."

            "Yes? What is it, Nico?" she supplied, blinking expectantly at me, straightening up from her position and waiting patiently for my question to slip out of my mouth.

            "Do you..." Oh gods, how do I say this? "Does the name... Annabeth Chase ring a bell to you?" Oh great, that sounded more shady than I intended it to be.

            Her reaction caught me by surprise. Not only did she practically beam at me, she almost launched herself excitedly at me and pin me right by my study chair, almost causing me whiplash when she accidentally wheeled us back to my study table. "Oh my gods, Nico!" she screamed, causing Bianca to come running inside my room in a panic and therefore see the embarrassment and horror on my face.

            "What? What happened?" Bianca called out, her voice filled with worry. Her silvery white pajamas left crooked and her hair dripping wet with the towel hanging around her neck.

            "Nico just asked me if I know Annabeth Chase!" Hazel answered, her words heavily implying that I asked with an interest - romantic, specifically- on the said girl and completely oblivious of the fact that I asked out of plain curiosity.

            "No way! You don't know her?" my older sister remarked, her eyes as wide as saucers at the mention of her name. Now it made me want to know more about what's such a big deal about her to make my sisters react like this.

            "Isn't that why I'm asking?"

            "Is she your classmate? I heard she studies in Goode." Hazel asks, almost too happy to make it hard for me to believe that this was in fact my easily flustered sister right in front of me.

            Walking over, Bianca leaned over me and pinched me on my cheek, much to my dismay. "You like her don't you?" she teased.

            Wait... _What?!_

            I swatted her hand away. "Hold on!" A raise of hands here and a glare there. "I don't like her! Perseus likes her and I just-"

            Hazel and Bianca blinked. Once. Twice. then thrice before straightening up and shaking their head vehemently. _Okay._ So something's really up for both my sisters to react this way, especially at the mention of Percy. "What?" I asked slowly, "is something wrong with her?"

            "Oh no. Nothing's wrong with her. None at all." Bianca said, sitting down on the bed and taking her time to dry her long black hair. "I'm just worried about Percy." she said.

            "Why?"

            Then I saw Hazel shift her weight alternately on her feet. I'm not really an expert in people reading, but this is usually an action she does when she's hesitating about something. "Hazel, what is it?" I prodded, now completely curious as to why my sisters are acting like this and being so adamantly against Percy meeting Annabeth, but not to me.

            "Don't tell Percy, but she's way out of his league." Hazel said.

            "And I am?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at them with utter disbelief. "Sis, seriously? _I_ am more _in her league_ than Perseus? Don't kid me."

            "She's much too graceful to date Percy." Bianca told me. Right now, I'm oblivious to the reason as to why definition of movement is a big thing in dating. I looked at them with narrowed eyes, implying that I'll need more information to get their logic.

            Bianca rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance, muttering something about boys knowing nothing in dating before straightening up and regarding me with a serious look in her eyes. "He might have a chance, okay? I'm not saying he's completely hopeless when it comes to her, but... Annabeth? She's way in on the other side of the intellectual spectrum than Percy."

            "Hey, Perseus is smart." I defended him. Sure, he might be a little bit kind of an idiot with his actions, but he's smart on his own right and most of the time it's because of him we get away unscathed during one of those harassment episodes we had in school. My sisters both looked at me with a disbelieving look. "Okay, _fine_. Maybe he needs to work on that. But he's clever."

            I could tell my sisters were about to say something else when we heard the front door creak open. Our stepmom's here.

            "I better go and help her with the groceries." Bianca told us, getting up from the bed and settling to just brushing her fingers through her hair. Hazel followed suit as Persephone doesn't really like it if they don't give a hand with the chores saying it's not "womanly" to be lazy.

            Before Hazel could leave, she looked back at me with a worried smile on her face. "Percy's like a brother to me. Just tell him to keep an eye out for her friends. I heard they're pretty mean."

            Hearing my bedroom door quietly shut. I pushed myself back to my computer table - chair and all - and surfed through Google. "Annabeth Chase" I typed and soon enough countless photos, articles and biographies came out one after another. Wow. Okay, I was only expecting maybe a Facebook, Twitter or even a few Tumblr pages to pop up, not entire articles after articles pertaining to her.

            I scrolled through the page, finding nothing but news articles. I'm not really interested in those and I was about to quit my research when I stumbled into a detailed biography of her. I clicked it and skimmed through the important details. With every word I read and information I take in, I find myself slowly understanding why my sisters were so adamant in discouraging Percy. My heart was pounding with every line I read and upon realizing, my throat was parched and my breathing turned shallow as well.

            "What?!"

            A straight A student earning a double degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering, a daughter of a famous historian and a philosopher. A star player in the school fencing team and the team captain in the Math and Science wizards. Moreover, she's... the prima ballerina in a famous ballet troupe at the same time.

            Annabeth Chase was not a normal nineteen year old girl, nor was she a whimsical blonde my best friend fell head over heels for. In fact, Annabeth Chase was the real deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's Nico's first POV.  
> What do you guys think? A little out of character or just right?  
> I tried to make him sound a little more serious and polite, like how he is in the books, but... yeah. I think I failed big time. 
> 
> Kudos and comments would be very much appreciated!  
> Cheers!


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